


Rebel Hearts

by wannaberiderofrohan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Hoth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-17 03:49:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13068489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wannaberiderofrohan/pseuds/wannaberiderofrohan
Summary: Yalana Shan has a huge crush on one Luke Skywalker. And as they grow closer, he finds that he likes her back. But the Rebellion calls for them to do their duty and keeps the lovers apart.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Mark Hamill who wants Luke to have a girlfriend.

When the suns sat on Tatoonine, the heat soon left the desert. Sometimes, it would get so cold that the vaporator pipes would freeze. Alarms sounded in the house so Owen, Beru or Luke could stumble out of bed, blankets drawn over their shoulders, and turn on the heating units before a pipe burst. One night, Luke hadn’t got the the vaporator in time and a pipe exploded, sending a loud BANG across the desert. He had spent the night fixing it. The cold had danced against his skin, and the ice glittered on sand. The ends of Luke’s fingers had become numb and clumsy so he breathed on them or pressed them against the warming vaporator to get feeling back. So Luke thought he knew the cold.

Then he took watch for the first time on Echo Base on the ice planet Hoth. He stood sentry on top of the watchtower, looking out over the white expanse. Sunlight reflected on the snowflakes, making the whole world bright. The wind whipped around him, even harsher than it was down below. And he realized he knew nothing about the cold. Even wrapped in thermal jackets and his feet encased in heavy boots, the chill went down to his core. 

“Commander Skywalker!” 

Luke turned. A figure, human, walked across the platform carrying two thermoses. Her snow suit made her look androgynous, but the voice sounded female to Luke. The patch on her right chest, grey with one red pip, showed her rank. 

“Lieutenant….” Luke trailed off, trying to think of a female, human lieutenant on base. 

“Yalana Shan, sir,” she supplied. She stopped in front of him and pulled her goggles up, revealing a warm, smiling face. Now Luke recognized her, he had seen her at the mess hall, their eyes had met, but in the rush of Echo Base, they hadn’t had a chance to speak. 

“Lieutenant Shan,” said Luke. “Pleasure to meet you.” 

She laughed a little. “The pleasure’s all mine.” She held out a thermos. “Here. I brought you this.” 

Luke took it and unscrewed the cap. The heat rose to his face. He expected to smell the metallic scent of heated water, but instead he inhaled a rich, thick smell spiced with something sharp. He had only smelled this once, when a ship from a Central Planet came in bringing exotic treats and trinkets. The merchant had called it chocolate. 

He looked up at Lieutenant Shan. “Where did you get this?” 

“Brought it from home,” she said. She went to the railing and leaned against it, looking out over the landscape. 

Luke joined her. “Thank you, for sharing.” 

“You saved my life and family's, the least I owe you is a cup of chocolate.” 

“I… What?” Luke didn’t remember seeing her before coming to Echo Base, let alone her entire family. 

“I’m from Yavin Four,” she said. 

“Oh.” Luke ducked his head, feeling silly for not realizing that sooner. He knew, rationally, he had saved everyone on Yavin Four by blowing up the Death Star. He still had the medal of valor The Alliance had given him. It rested on the blood stripes the Corellian government had honored him with. People had come up to him, shook his hand, thanked him. “That was… You don’t owe me anything. I mean, I just did what anyone would…” 

“Sure they would have,” said the lieutenant, clearly not believing it. 

He sipped the drink. As it traveled down him, it seemed to chase away the chill that settled inside him, leaving behind a glowing warmth. It was sweeter than the bitter piece he had tasted long ago and flavored with spices he couldn’t name. “Thank you.” 

“My pleasure,” she said, smiling again. “Anything of note to report?” 

Luke shook his head. “Wind. Snow. Flat nothing. Bit like home, just colder.” 

“You’re from Tatooine, right? Isn’t it a desert planet?” 

“Well, this place is kind of like a desert,” said Luke. “It’s bright from the sun reflecting, you have to coax the water out of the air and ground, you can’t see when the wind picks up... ” 

“Fair enough,” Lieutenant Shan conceded. She sipped her own chocolate. 

“What’s Yavin Four like?” asked Luke. 

And she told him, starting with what he already knew. That the air was hot and heavy with water, though Luke had apparently come during the dry season. Green grew everywhere, it was almost impossible to stop. And the chittering of the fauna seemed to never cease. 

Then she told him what he didn’t know. That the trees and the forest were older than the human settlements. That beautiful flowers grew inside and were harvested and sold to outworlders, though they were deadly poisonous. Yalana’s favorite was the quinta, with its five pointed petals shot with bright colors like a star going supernova. 

Brothers, sisters, pets, her parents, and the occasional down-on-their-luck relative all crowded into a farmhouse. They fought, but there was always enough food and she was rarely lonely.   
Yalana’s family had actually grown the chocolate they were drinking now. They owned a small plot of land and a few droids. The droids had long arms with hooks on the ends, specially modified to pick the high-growing kakow pods.

“Then we...” Yalana stopped herself and looked away from Luke.“Sorry, I’m just rambling about boring stuff.” 

“No, no,” said Luke. “It’s not boring. I’ve never heard of it, any of it before. I wanted to see more, but… I left moon after the award ceremony.” 

“I left Yavin around the same time,” said Yalana. “I shipped out as soon as I volunteered for the Rebellion.” 

“What made you decide to join up?” asked Luke. 

She thought for a moment. “It didn’t seem real, you know? The Empire. It was all far away politics and laws and arguing. Then… Alderaan vanished. And we knew we were next, it was only a matter of time before the Rebel Base was found. And it didn’t feel so far away anymore. Anyone willing to kill that many people… They had to be stopped. What about you?” 

“Less noble reasons,” confessed Luke. “I didn’t have anything else. My aunt and uncle… Stormtroopers raided our farm and killed them. A friend of mine, Ben, he got a message from Leia. Sorry, Princess Leia and I followed where he went. I sorta just ended up with the Rebellion.”

He swallowed down the lump in his throat. Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru, Ben, Biggs. Everyone who had made Tatooine something more than a backwater planet was gone. Just… Gone. All taken by the Empire. 

Yalana squeezed Luke’s shoulder. Then she lifted her thermos. “To your aunt and uncle.” 

“Beru and Owen Lars,” said Luke. He tapped his thermos against hers. “To them.” 

They drank the last of the chocolate and watched the sun set on the icy planet. 

\---

Their watch ended when the sun set. Without its warmth, it was far too cold for humans to be outside, even with the special thermal jackets. Droids took over at night, their bodies equipped to deal with the temperature. Yalana and Luke climbed down the ladder back into the base. 

Even though the watch was uneventful, Yalana’s heart pounded. She had talked to Commander Luke Skywalker. And it hadn’t gone too horribly. He seemed to like the chocolate, and at least tolerated her babbling about her family. 

They reached the bottom of the ladder. Their boots clunked on the floor when they kicked them off. Once she removed her heavy white thermal jacket, Yalana found that she could breath easier. 

She glanced over at Commander Skywalker and her heart stopped. Now that his jacket was off, he was clad in a black shirt with a v-shaped neckline. It fit him well and complimented his light skin. 

This was not fair at all. 

“Do you wanna get dinner?” asked Luke. “Mess hall’s still open.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” She had eaten before watch, but it couldn’t hurt to get more food. “Dinner would be good.” 

They walked down the connecting tunnels to the mess hall. Bluish light from the low-power bulbs lit the hallways. The heating systems, the water pipes, the power circuits whined and grumbled, keeping the base livable and running. 

The mess hall was quieter than normal, only a murmur of voices. Most were asleep or working at this hour. The two got their meals and sat next to each other at a long, mostly empty table. 

Yalana poked at the meat with her fork. “Think it’s from a tuan-tuan?” 

Luke took a bite and made a face as he chewed it. Yalana laughed at the way his nose wrinkled. Tuan-tuan didn’t taste bad, but it was tougher than happabore leather. 

Luke swallowed. “Yeah, I think that’s it.” 

“I never thought I would say this, but I would kill for some nerf,” said Yalana. She tried to cut her piece of tuan-tuan meat into smaller bits. 

“Some what?” 

“Nerf,” she said again. “Big four-legged things? Real thick hair on the front half? Worst stink in the galaxy?” 

“Oh!” Luke’s eyes widened. “Leia calls people nerf-herders when she gets upset with them. I thought it was an Alderaanian swear word.” 

They talked as they ate, comparing the flora and fauna of Tatooine and Yavin 4. What was good to eat, what wasn’t. Why banthas were so hairy when they lived in a desert. When they finished eating, Yalana found that she didn’t want to part from Luke yet. She didn’t want to back to her bunk and lie alone in silence. But if she was going to work tomorrow, she needed sleep. 

“Well, um. Early morning tomorrow,” she said, standing up. 

“Me too,” said Luke, following her. “What do you do around base?” 

“Drills in the morning. Droid repair or watch after. Depends on what needs doing.” 

“Droid repair,” repeated Luke. “Huh.” 

“Yeah. Um. I’ll see you around,” she said, putting her tray on the conveyor belt that led to the garbage compactor. 

They parted ways to go to their respective bunks. As she drifted off to sleep, she tried not to hope she would see Commander Skywalker again. 

\--- 

The next day, as it turned out, Yalana did see Luke. He brought his R2 unit to the workshop, just for a check up, he said. 

They made some small talk as Yalana hooked the droid up to the computer and waited for the it’s protocols to load. How they had slept (fine), how long Luke had owned the R2 (three standard years), when they would next be on watch (they would have a shift together in a week). 

The computer beeped, signalling that the load had finished. Yalana looked at it and her eyes widened. She had never seen so many protocols in a droid before. And some of it was old stuff. Clone Wars-era language that transitioned, not so smoothly into the modern vernacular. 

“You said you had it for three years?” she asked. “You sure?” 

“Yeah, but I don’t know how old he is,” said Luke. “We bought him from Jawa scavengers.” 

Yalana made a mental note to ask what Jawas were later. She turned her focus back to the computer. “I would need at least a month to go through this and desnag it.” 

The R2 let out a shrill, curse-laden protest in binary. He didn’t fancy the idea of having his protocols messed with, especially by some nobody mechanic. 

“Artoo!” Luke scolded. “Be nice! I brought you to her so she can help you.” 

“That’s quite a mouth he’s got on him,” said Yalana, trying not to sound too amused. He reminded her of the FT-2389s that picked the kakow pods back home. Before their regular memory wipes, they would use the curse words they had picked up.

“When’s the last time he’s had his memory wipe?” she asked, kneeling down in front of the R2. 

“I don’t know. I haven’t gotten him wiped since I’ve had him.” 

The droid beeped that that information was classified. 

Yalana raised her eyebrows. “Classified by whom?” 

That was also classified, according to the R2. 

“Well,” said Yalana. “I don’t have time to desnag the code, and I assume you don’t want a memory wipe.”

Both Luke and the R2 gave an affirmative answer. 

“That leave some physical upgrads,” she said. She got up and went to the parts cabinet. “I can tighten any loose bits and secure parts,” she said as she pulled out her equipment. “A tread replacement might be in order. The snow can be killer on droids who aren’t used to it. Oh, and a battery change. He’s your co-pilot in the X-wing, right? You’ll want to keep an eye on his processors then, keep them at top speed.”

R2 whined about how Yalana sounded like a droid named C-3PO, that he didn’t need all this fuss. 

“Artoo, this is just standard procedure,” said Luke. “She’ll be done in no time.” 

The droid beeped something back, but Yalana had put her equipment down and was focusing on organizing it so she missed what he said. 

“What? Where’d you get that idea?” asked Luke. “Maybe I should keep a closer eye on your processors.” 

“What’d he say?” asked Yalana, looking up. 

Luke’s cheeks had turned bright red. “Nothing, nothing. He’s just being… Himself.” 

R2 let out an amused beep and rocked back and forth. 

“Okay…,” said Yalana. “Um. Let’s get to work then.” 

The inside of the droid was just as slap-dash and mixed up as his code. Yalana poked at the wiring, afraid that she would damage the droid. She started with the battery replacement, then carefully tightened some screws and other loose bits. Luke hovered, asking questions about what he could do to keep the R2 in good shape. Yalana showed him the places where damage was most likely to occur and how to fix them. The R2, for his part, behaved and let Luke and Yalana prod at his innards. 

When Yalana had done all she could, they parted ways. Luke said he would bring his droid in for regular check ups. 

Yalana never got a chance to check up on the droid again.


	2. The Battle of Hoth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a picture of Yalana if anyone's curious! 
> 
> http://professorbumblebee.tumblr.com/post/168862611467/why-write-when-you-can-make-your-ocs-in-a

The next time Yalana saw Luke, he was sitting on a bed in the medbay after disappearing for a night. When Yalana heard that he was gone, she tried not to panic. There was nothing she could do after all, to help someone lost in a Hoth blizzard. When word came to her that he had returned, a burden lifted from her chest. It took a lot of self-control to focus on repairing droids instead of running straight to to the medbay to see him. Not that they would let her in. She wasn’t anyone to him. Just a girl with a big crush on a Rebellion hero.

The next day, she went to the medbay to try and visit. The med droid was nice enough to let her in saying Luke was well enough for visitors. She approached the bed, and Luke looked up. Under the harsh light, he looked awful. Then again, no one looked too good after a dunk in the bacta tank. 

“Yalana,” said Luke, a smile crossing his face. “Is it terrible of me to hope that you brought more chocolate?” 

Yalana laughed, and a tension left her chest. “No, it’s not terrible. But you’ll have to settle for just my company, I didn’t think to bring any.” 

“Oh, well, I like that too,” said Luke. His blue eyes were soft and ernest. Yalana’s heart skipped a beat. 

She tried to cover it up with a joke. “Well, you like my company because I’ve conditioned you. I give you chocolate and repair your droid so you'll like me. It’s classical conditioning.” 

Luke laughed a little. “Mind games, huh?” 

“Only good ones,” said Yalana. 

Luke sighed. “I feel like my friends are playing mind games, and they’re drawing me into it.” 

“Yeah?” asked Yalana. “You should tell them to kriff off.” 

Luke laughed and ducked his head. “No, no, I wouldn’t do that. It’s just… Leia kissed me and I’m pretty sure it was only to make Han jealous.” 

Oh. Luke had been kissing someone else. Cool, cool, cool. Yalana could deal with it. 

“They’re always fighting and trying to hurt each other, but they clearly like each other. I don’t get it,” continued Luke. 

“Maybe they’re taking stress out on each other,” said Yalana. She had no kriffing clue, she was just making stuff up. “You know, things are kind of precarious right now and liking someone probably doesn’t help.” It definitely didn’t help. 

“Yeah, maybe,” said Luke. He looked up, a smile on his face. “I’m glad to see you though.” 

Yalana smiled and was very glad that her olive skin concealed the heat rising in her cheeks. “I’m glad you’re alright.” 

“Thanks,” said Luke. “It’ll probably be awhile before we see each other again.” 

“Are you being transferred?” 

Luke shook his head. “I have more Jedi training to do.” 

Yalana stared at him. She had heard Luke was a Jedi, but she had thought that it was just rumor. The Jedi were dead. Who would teach him? Besides the Jedi were guardians of peace, was Luke going to maintain peace in the galaxy all by himself? It seemed just too ridiculous. 

“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone,” continued Luke. “It might take me years to find the person I’m looking for, I just know I’m supposed to go to a certain system…” 

“Wait.” Yalana held up her hand. “You’re leaving the Rebellion?” 

“Well, yes.” 

Yalana shoved him, not enough to hurt, but hard enough to let him she was pissed. Heat rose her cheeks, not the blush of a crush, but pure burning anger. Her chest was tight and her heart pounded in her ears. “You can’t leave!” 

“Hey!” Luke looked up at her, wounded. “I have to go. I’ve got to become a Jedi.” 

“Forget the Jedi! You’re chasing after a dead legends, when we need skilled pilots to defeat the Empire!” 

“I’m a good pilot because of my Jedi training,” said Luke, a little heated too. “I used the Force to destroy the Death Star.” 

“What the hell are you talking about?” asked Yalana. “The Force? You blew up the station because you’re a crack shot, what does magic have to do with it?” 

“It’s not magic, it’s… It’s an energy field that flows through us, it comes from life and it lets Jedi sense beyond what they can see.” 

Yalana scoffed. “And learning to control this Force… Is more important than the Rebellion?” 

“I can use what I learned to help the Rebellion!” 

“We need you now!” 

“There’s a bigger picture here!” 

Yalana stepped back and shook her head. “Well, if you want to leave, fine. I just thought you of all people… That you would understand what was at stake. That you would know that lives are more important than children’s stories. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to the repair shop.” She turned on her heel and left the medbay, ignoring Luke’s calls for her to come back. 

\--- 

Luke huffed and leaned back in the medbay bed. Who was Yalana to lecture him about what was at stake? He needed to learn to become a Jedi, to learn the ways of the Force and be like his father. Then he could use what he learned to help people. Yalana didn’t understand. She didn’t know anything about the Force. 

He wanted to talk to Han. Han should understand what it was like to be yelled at by girls for leaving the cause. Where had the Rebellion found such dedicated women? 

The med droid walked over to him. “Should I bar Lieutenant Shan from visiting you?” he asked in his stilted, robotic voice. 

“I don’t think she’ll be coming back,” said Luke.

“I’m glad to hear it. Your argument raised your heart rate.” 

Luke shook his head. “She’s not bad, she’s just…” He sighed. “We just disagree on what’s important.” 

“If she doesn’t agree that your health is important, she shouldn’t be visiting you.” The droid’s flat voice somehow managed to sound stubborn. 

Luke laughed a little. “Well, we weren’t arguing about that. I’m sure we’d agree on it.” 

“Good. Now, if you do not mind, I would like to check your vitals.”  
\--- 

Yalana hadn’t been lying when she said she had to go back to the repair shop. She had used her meal hour to visit Luke, and she was due back to work. By the time she got there, she was still fuming. A few of the other techs glanced at her but didn’t say anything. Which was fine by Yalana. 

She went to her workbench and hooked up a droid, a little astromech from the Y9 line, to her computer. She pulled up the protocols she was supposed to desnag. 

The Y9 beeped that she seemed distracted. 

“I’m fine,” she muttered. “Just relax, I’ll have you ready to go in no time.” 

For a few hours, she poked at the protocols, cleaning up the long strings of numbers and letters. But Y9 was right, she couldn’t focus. Her mind kept going to the little ball of anger in her chest. 

Luke Skywalker was supposed to be a hero! And heroes didn’t just leave! Not when there were lives at stake. What could be more important than The Rebellion? Why was he leaving? 

Yalana pressed her head to the desk and groaned. This was useless. She sat back up and rubbed her forehead, leaning back in her chair. Her head pounded from staring at the computer screen for too long and her legs cramped. She looked at the chrono on the wall. Another two hours. She wished she could leave. 

“Attention all base personal, report to battle stations. Repeat, all base personal, report to battle stations.” 

Yalana looked up and glanced around at the other techs. They looked just as confused as she was. She stood up from her work bench. “Well, you heard him. Battle stations everyone!” 

The techs scrambled out of their chairs and everyone left the droid repair room. They split off down different white hallways, going to where they had been assigned in case that message ever came over the loudspeaker. 

Yalana jogged to her station, passing by others rushing to their posts. Pilots going to the hanger, gunners to the canons, and ground troops, like her to the entrances of the base. By the time she got there, most of her squadmates were already there, pulling on their white winter gear over their clothes and tying their boots. Yalana grabbed a suit off the rack on the wall and stepped into it. 

“Any idea what’s going on?” she asked one of her squadmates, a ruddy faced man named Markel Ronan, a fellow Lieutenant. 

He shook his head. “You know anything?” 

“Just to go to battle stations,” said Yalana. She bent down and pulled on her snow boots. 

“Listen up!” 

Markel and Yalana looked at the speaker. Sergeant Kes Dameron stood in front of the base door, already in his battle gear. 

“The Empire’s found our base,” said Sergeant Dameron. 

Yalana’s stomach dropped and blood left her cheeks as muttering and whispers broke out amongst the ground troops. Kriff. What were they going to do? 

Sergeant Dameron answered her question without needing to be asked. “We’re headed down to the trenches, see if we can hold them off. Get in formation and shoot anything that comes at the base.” 

“Sir, yes, sir,” choursed the squad. 

“Good. May The Force be with you.” 

“What if it isn’t?” muttered Yalana. 

“Hey, it was kindly meant,” said Markel. 

Yalana shrugged. They walked over to the blaster rack to get their weapons. Yalana picked her blaster rifle out and slung it onto her back. 

“You don’t believe in The Force?” asked Markel, also putting on his weapon. 

“Wasn’t raised religious,” said Yalana. “We’ll debate theology when our Base is secure.” 

Markel laughed. “Holding you to that.” 

They marched out into the trenches they had spent days carving out of the icy surface. Yalana got into position and took the blaster rifle off her back. She took her stance and pointed it at the icy expanse. The smell of snow filled her nostrils. Distant orders were being shouted. 

Yalana waited, her breath forming fog in front of her. Sergeant Dameron paced back and forth behind the soldiers. “Steady, steady…” 

Yalana could hear their airspeeders flying overhead to meet the Imperial troops, but she kept her eyes on the vast landscape of white. The sky was bright blue, clear and beautiful. 

Shapes began to form on the horizon line. Yalana squinted, but she couldn’t make them out. The sound of blaster fire sounded across the landscape and the snow in front of her spurted up wars as the blaster bolts hit the ground. 

“Steady…” said Sergeant Dameron. 

The shapes moved closer and clarified in Yalana’s vision. AT-AT walkers, giant hulks of metal that moved slowly on four legs. The Rebels' airspeeders, like little gnats next to the walkers, flew around them, taking shots. The walkers’ canons kept firing, sending red bolts sailing over the trenches. Yalana’s fingers tightened on the trigger but she didn’t pull. 

“Fire!” shouted Sergeant Dameron. 

Yalana and her squadmates shot at the walkers, their red bolts flying across the icy expanse. None of the walkers slowed down. They must have shields. 

The whine of ships’ engines sounded over head. Yalana kept her focus on her task. Explosions went off behind them. Blast, those were probably the ground canons being destroyed. 

Then one of the walkers went down, falling forwards onto the snow, it’s legs giving out from under it. 

Yalana pumped her fist as the rest of the ground contingent cheered. One down. A lot to go. 

They kept firing, but the walkers just moved closer and closer. Another one went down and a cheer went up, but it wasn’t as loud and heartfelt as the last one. Despite the cold, sweat formed on Yalana’s brow. The Empire’s forces weren’t turning back. Could they hold them off much longer? 

“Fall back!” shouted Sergeant Dameron. “We’re evacuating! Fall back!”

Yalana put her blaster rifle back on her back. She climbed out of the trench, gripping the icy ledge and pulling herself up. She could see the transport ship, a large dome-like ship landing and opening its doors. 

She broke into a run, heading for the transport. Her boots crunched the snow beneath her. Her squad mates ran next to her. Markel quickly passed her and she gave another burst of speed to keep up. 

A red light streaked over Yalana’s shoulder. As she cried out a warning, it hit Markel in the back. He fell forwards onto the snow. 

Yalana skidded to a halt and knelt down. She pulled off a glove and pressed her fingers to Markel’s neck. No pulse. Yalana swallowed down her grief and horror. 

“Lieutenant Shan! We’ve got to move!” shouted Sergeant Dameron over the cachopany of blasters and canons. 

Yalana stood up. “We can’t just-” 

“We have to leave the dead behind! We’ve got to go!” Sergeant Dameron waved her forwards. 

Yalana made herself move forwards, following Sergeant Dameron towards the transport ship. But her thoughts were racing. Who else was being left behind? The dead, the unlucky and… 

“The droids!” she shouted. “The droids in the repair shop! We have to get them out!” 

Sergeant Dameron turned. “What! No, Lieutenant! You’ll never make it back in time!” 

Yalana turned, running towards the base, ignoring her superior’s orders to come back and get into the transport. The doors were still open. The rest of the base coming out, rushing to get to the transport ships. Yalana pushed against the crowd, slipping between people, focused on getting to the droid repair shop. 

She rushed down the dimly lit corridors. The base shook as blasts from the Imperial canons hit it. The base felt more maze like than ever as Yalana naviagated it. 

Finally, she arrived at the shop, wrenching the door open. “Look alive, we’re getting out of here!” she said, stepping in.

The droids beeped and swiveled their photoreceptors towards her. Yalana moved from droid to droid, unhooking them from the computers and speaking words of reassurance. “We’ll be out of here soon, yeah? Just gotta move fast. Don’t worry, the Empire’s not going to get their dirty hands on you.”

She stopped in front of a H45 scout droid. It beeped at her sadly, telling her to leave it behind. The droid’s treds had been taken off, it couldn’t move. 

“Nonsense,” said Yalana, unhooking it from the computer. “We don’t leave good droids behind.” She picked up the H45 and it squealed, saying it would be fine, don’t waste her energy. Yalana ignored it. 

The small group of droids rolled behind her, beeping and buzzing their excitement and panic. The H45 grew heavier and heavier in Yalana’s arms but she didn’t dare drop it or slow down her pace. 

They motley group of droids and Yalana rushed through Echo Base. The crowd had thinned, so they moved quickly for a group of their size. Once they were outside, Yalana saw, to her relief, that a transport was still there, stragglers still boarding. 

Yalana boarded the ship and counted the droids to make sure they were all there. The droids scattered, going about the ship. The transport engines hummed and the people murmured amongst themselves. Yalana set the H45 down and sat on one of the chairs that lined the ships’ walls. She put her face in her hands, exhausted. 

The sound of the ship’s engines grow louder as it took off and rose through Hoth’s atmosphere. Yalana leaned against the walls of the ship and closed her eyes. She felt sore all over, especially in her arms from carrying the droid.

“Shan!” 

Yalana opened her eyes. Sergeant Dameron stood in front of her, arms crossed and scowling. 

Kriff. 

“You disobeyed your superior’s orders. You’re demoted,” said Sergeant Dameron. 

Yalana nodded. That was fair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sergeant Damereon isn't Poe, but his father Kes! I highly recommend the comic he debuted in, Shattered Empire! Comments keep me going!


	3. Haven

Yalana’s demotion took a little more bureaucracy than Sergeant Dameron declaring it so. They had to reach the rendezvous point that Rebel Command had set up. Datawork had to filled out, the court martial had to happen. It was a miserable six months for Yalana. After the court martial and her official demotion, she was assigned to Sanitation. It was a far cry from droid repair. She missed using her skills in the workshop and feeling like she was doing something actually useful. 

She just told herself that she was lucky that she hadn’t been kicked out of the Rebellion. Her legal representative during the trial was excellent, arguing persuasively that the droids picked up a lot of information about the Rebellion and Yalana would have been negligent if she let them fall into the hands of the Imperials. 

So Yalana was just demoted to Cadet and assigned to Sanitation. 

She was wiping down the transport ship’s windows when she heard something pertinent to her interests. 

“Really,” said Isa Vera, one of her fellow Cadets and sanitation workers. “Just because he blew up a Death Star doesn’t mean he can get away with desertion.” 

Yalana looked up. “Commander Skywalker is back?” 

“Yeah,” said Isa. “He came back last night. I heard he ran into some Imperial troops when he deserted. He has nowhere else to go.” 

Yalana swallowed down a protest. Luke had a reason to leave. A stupid reason but a reason. 

As the rest of the sanitation crew gossiped about Commander Skywalker and his friends, Yalana stayed quiet. She wondered where Luke was on the ship. She hoped he would want to see her again. 

When her shift ended, she went to her room to clean off. As she stood in the sonic, she composed a short note to send to Luke. She settled on “I’m sorry for yelling at you. And I’m sorry I don’t have any chocolate to make it better. Hope you’re well.” 

When she was done cleaning herself, she dressed and typed the message into her datapad. She sent it to Luke via the electronic messaging system. Once it was sent, she lay down on her bunk and sighed. 

To her surprise, her datapad pinged. She rolled over and swiped it to bring up the message. It was from Luke. 

It read, “No need for apologies. I’m in the medbay. Could use to see a friendly face.” 

Luke was in the medbay? Again? Yalana resisted asking what the hell had happened. Instead, she sent him, “On my way.” 

She got up and went to the medbay. It was quiet at this hour. She passed a few droids, nodded to her fellow sanitation workers. When she arrived at the medbay, she knocked. 

A droid, the same med droid from Echo Base answered the door. “Cadet Yalana Shan,” it said, somehow managing to sound grumpy. “Commander Skywalker told me you were to be allowed to see him.” 

“He did invite me,” said Yalana. “So…” 

“I will let you in,” said the med droid. “But if you distress Commander Skywalker, I will escort you out.” 

Don’t get into another fight with him. Got it. Yalana nodded. “Can I see him now?” 

“Yes,” said the droid stiffly. “Follow me.” It turned and walked with it’s slow, awkward gate and Yalana trailed behind. 

It lead Yalana to a small, windowless room. Luke sat on a bed and he looked awful. Worse than when Yalana had last seen him. His face was haggard and his eyes betrayed terrible exhaustion. 

“Enjoy your visit,” said the med droid. “I will be outside if you need to be escorted out.” 

“One Bee. Be nice,” said Luke. 

The med droid didn’t answer, just walked out and shut the door behind Yalana. 

“I don’t think he likes me,” she said. 

“No, he’s just overly worried,” said Luke. “If you were his patient, he’d fuss over you too.” 

Yalana stepped closer to the bed. “So if I’m not allowed to fight with you, what can we talk about?” 

Luke chuckled. “Well. What’s been going on with you?” 

Yalana didn’t want to talk about that. “Nothing. It’s been quiet since Hoth. What about you? Did you find what you were looking for?” 

Luke didn’t meet her eyes. “Yeah,” he said. “I did.” 

Awkward silence settled between them. Neither wanted to talk about the last six months. And they didn’t have shared experiences to reminisce on. 

“Uh… You wanna play sabacc?” asked Yalana. “You have a datapad right? We can use that.” 

“Yes,” said Luke, eagerly grasping onto the new topic. “That sounds fun.” 

Yalana sat on the bed and Luke grabbed his datapad from his bedside table. As he leaned forwards to set the pad in between them, Yalana noticed that his right sleeve was empty. She blinked. She was pretty sure Luke had his hand last time she had seen him. 

“Luke… What happened?” 

Luke’s gaze followed hers to his empty sleeve. He looked back up at her, expression pained. “Yalana... Please…” 

Yalana nodded. “Okay.” She could live without knowing. Luke would tell her when he was ready. 

They used the pad’s holoprojector to make cards appear out of thin air. They used a small pile of credits as the pot. An amiable hour passed as they played, the wins split evenly between them. 

As they played the sixth round, Yalana was sure she was going to win. Her cards added up to twenty-three, the number she needed. She lay her holocards down. “See ‘em and weep, Skywalker.” 

“Oh, I see ‘em,” said Luke. He laid his cards down. “But you’re going to be the one weeping, Shan.” 

He had the Idiot’s Array. A zero, a two and a three. The only combination that could beat a twenty-three. 

Yalana let out a string of curses while Luke laughed, a deep belly laugh. 

“Hand ‘em over,” he said, holding out his hand, still grinning. His smile was like the brightest star in the galaxy. 

Yalana handed him the credits, still scowling. “I hate you so much.” 

“Sore loser much?” asked Luke. He put the credits on the bedside table and looked back at her still smiling that starshine smile and Yalana’s breath caught and she forgot to be angry at him. 

Silence hung between them again, taut, straining to be broken. 

Yalana leaned forward and touched his cheek. She could feel his soft breath. 

“What are you doing?” Luke asked quietly. 

“I don’t know,” she said. Then she leaned forwards and kissed him. 

She held the kiss for a moment, then pulled away. 

“Yalana…” said Luke, his expression pained, that beautiful smile of his gone. “I… I can’t… We can’t…” 

“Why not?” asked Yalana, even though she could think of a million reasons why. They barely knew each other, they could be torn apart by assignments to different systems, he was technically her superior officer. 

“Because… it’s complicated. Things are really complicated right now and I just…” 

“What’s so complicated? Do you not like me?” Had she completely misread him? Kriff, she felt like an idiot. 

“I do… I just…” Luke swallowed. “Please understand.” 

“You’re not giving me anything to understand,” said Yalana. She stood up and looked away, shoving her hands in her pockets. 

“I’m sorry,” said Luke. 

“I’m gonna go,” said Yalana. She turned and went out the door. Luke didn’t call after her.

She closed the door and pressed her head against the smooth white surface. "Kriffing hell." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, this isn't over! I promise a happy ending! Comments keep me going!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope to continue this, but it just depends on how things go. Comments fuel me!


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